The Scottish Naturalist. 195 



bridge may be considered rare and uncertain visitors to our coasts. 

 The Tunny (Thynnus thy /urns), to which the Bonito bears a 

 close resemblance in shape and habits, has occurred more fre- 

 quently, excepting the above, than any other member of the family. 

 Sibbald notices it in his " Scotia Illustrata," the late Mr. Don* 

 includes it in his list of the fishes of Forfarshire, and the Rev. 

 G. Gordonf records it from the Moray Firth. The fish has 

 also been taken more than once in the Firth ,of Forth ; and a 

 fine example, about nine feet long, was caught near Queensferry, 

 in October 1868. The late Mr. Beattie,J Montrose, secured a 

 fine specimen of the Pelamid (Pelamys sarda) that was caught 

 in a salmon net at the mouth of the North Esk, in 1859. It 

 was 23^ inches long. Mr. Edwards,§ Banff, reports the cap- 

 ture of the Plain Bonito (Auxis vulgaris) in a herring net, off 

 Cullen, in September 1859, twenty inches in length. The 

 Blackfish ( Centrolophus pompilus) another rare spcies of this 

 family, as arranged by Giinther (not Yarrell), was obtained by the 

 Rev. G. Gordon, 1 1 at Lossiemouth, in 1841, fourteen inches long. 

 Although it will be seen that nearly all the Scomberoids are 

 rare fishes in our seas, still we may expect, as interest in the 

 subject increases, that by and bye a considerable number more 

 may be added to our present list. These may occur, however, 

 at rather long intervals. Pennant's Tunny (T. albacora), for 

 instance, a good species, does not appear to have been seen on 

 our shores since his day, and Ray's Bream (Brama Rail) is 

 another member of the family that was long considered very 

 rare. It was figured as a British fish by Willoughby, from a 

 specimen caught near the mouth of the Tees in September, 

 1 68 1. Donovan seems to have figured in his Brit. Fishes, the 

 next example obtained, and he says, " since the time of Ray there 

 is no instance within our knowledge or record, to prove that the 

 Gilt-head has been taken, or seen upon our coasts till the year 

 1792, when a fish of this species was caught in St. Andrews, 

 Scotland, and presented by James Lumsden, Esq. of Inner- 

 gellie, to the late Mr. Weekes, Proprietor of the Edinburgh 

 Museum, who caused it to be finely preserved, and exhibited. 

 After the dissolution of the Museum, the subject came into our 

 possession, and thus enabled us to submit a figure of this extra- 



* Headrick, Agriculture of Forfarshire. 



+ Zoologist, 1852. X Yarrell. § Zoologist, 1859. 



II Zoologist, 1841, and Yarrell. 



